I’m currently listening to free online lectures from a Social Psychology class given at Berkley. Social psychology is that field which studies human group dynamics and the influence that a group can have on an individual. I’ve just finished 3 in-depth lectures on Cognitive Dissonance Theory from that course (lectures 7, 8 and 9), and there is a very useful part of this theory that I don’t think has been highlighted enough.

I think it is important to emphasize that it’s the dissonance itself – which comes from holding conflicting ideas – which is intolerable to a person. Scientologists called it “entheta”. It’s that dissonant feeling inside yourself that you have to reduce, by reducing the status or importance of one or another of your conflicting ideas, to get rid of the feeling of dissonance in your head, and to feel harmonious, consonant, and copacetic again.

So…

Question: If you are given two conflicting ideas, which conflicting idea do you reduce?

Answer: The one that you are least invested in. Cognitive dissonance reduction always takes the path of least resistance.

EXAMPLE:

Let’s say a person is a long time critic of Scientology. He believes, deep down, that he always seeks to live with the truth. It’s what got him into Scientology, and it’s what got him out of it, too. And that’s why he is a critic, because he always seeks to live with and tell the truth.

As a critic, and a “respected member of the critic community”, he’s been saying that L Ron Hubbard was a huge psycho, actually mentally ill. And he believes this fully.

Then he finds out that L Ron Hubbard was examined by a team of psychiatric experts who all said he was sane, even said that he was a productive member of society.

These two ideas are DISSONANT in the critic’s mind. They are conflicting. As a human being, in his tribal mind, they can’t both be true. It causes distress for him to hold these 2 ideas in his mind at the same time. So, if he can’t completely abandon or ignore one of them, then the power of one of the ideas needs to be reduced somehow because this clash of ideas is extremely uncomfortable to him.

The idea he will make less of is the one that he’s least invested in. It will be the one he has written the least about, the one that if he adopted it, would not invalidate every position he ever took as a critic of Hubbard. He is going to keep the idea that justifies his existence as a critic, and he will reduce the idea that makes him look like he was wrong.

The 3 cognitive dissonance reduction strategies are:

(1) reduce the importance of one or the other conflicting beliefs, (2) add more non-conflicting beliefs so they outweigh the conflicting beliefs, or (3) change the conflicting beliefs so that they are no longer inconsistent and conflicting.

He could say that the examination by these psychiatrists were just “PR”, and that Hubbard paid them to say that. So it’s not important.

He could say that another team of psychiatrists said that the first team were quacks, and that they declared LRH insane, then ignore what the first team said and glom on to only what the second team said.

The critic could say that the psychiatrists never said that he was “sane” but that they could find no evidence of mental illness. Very different diagnoses, indeed. And then you could go on and on about psychiatry in the 50’s and 60’s and how primitive it was.

A person will reduce cognitive dissonance in the direction that least changes what his life is already built upon.

Studying this aspect of cognitive dissonance theory, and really understanding and applying it, can be a very dissonant thing in itself: It makes you realize when you have done it too.

All people do this, not just the people who disagree with you. All human beings can not tolerate cognitive dissonance and they will always seek to reduce it when they encounter it in life. It is completely human.

All people who seek to reduce cognitive dissonance are simply trying to reduce their own internal suffering.

I write not to point at any one person and say “HA! THERE! You use cognitive dissonance reduction techniques to avoid confronting the truth!”. I write this because the truth of something is BOTH the good and the bad of it.

Both – at the same time.

We all seek to live with the truth. But sometimes something is true, and its exact opposite is also true.

It hurts your head, but if you really seek to live with the truth, then you are going to have to develop a tolerance for cognitive dissonance, or at least recognize when you are simply trying to reduce it without considering all sides.

Hysterical Things Anti-Scientologists Say...

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“Scientology will literally walk over the backs of the dead as it did following the Virginia Tech Massacre.”

— Jeffrey Augustine

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There are many ways to contribute. If you think that these ideas need to be made part of the conversation on Scientology, then comment here, follow me on Twitter, link to AlanzosBlog on Facebook and Reddit, and get these ideas out there so that the stereotyping of minority religions like Scientology is at least is questioned by someone on the Internet!

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Or, you can support this blog monetarily and help me do bigger and better things. By donating you agree to keep AlanzosBlog completely non-partisan, independent and free to provide the information necessary to make informed decisions on Scientology and Anti-Scientology.

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What People Are Saying About Alanzo

Wow, psycho, scamology sycophant Alanzo performs two insane posts inside of a week. I didn’t know that internet day at the asylum was more than once a week.

Alanzo, I hope you’re at least getting paid by OSA!

Looks like you’re fooling some people some of the time.

I think we have a communication problem here, I have no idea what you’re on about.

Taking a stand both for and against Scientology is sure sign of cognitive dissonance, the results of being exposed to too much auditing and the teachings of LRH.

Answer the questions, tricky cult troll boy.

Put the reefer down, Alanzo!

You are on drugs if you can type that with a straight face and think that it’s either truthful, rational, or justified!

I’m certain you’re an agent provocateur at this point. 🙁

Alanzo – No one cares what you think about Scientology!

Alanzo, you are insane. Sorry, but it is true.

Team Alanzo – the turd that just won’t flush…

Alanzo – the stain that just won’t wash away

About Alanzo

Alanzo was a Scientologist for 16 years.

He reached the state of "Clear" and was on staff as an Executive Director and Course Supervisor in Scientology missions in the Midwest and Los Angeles.

When Alanzo had experienced enough in Scientology to see the extent to which he had been deceived, he left and immediately began speaking out on the Internet to expose its lies and abuse. Alanzo first began speaking out against Scientology on the Internet as "Poopsy Charmichael" in the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup in the late 1990's.

As the main Internet battleground between the Church and its critics, ARS soon became too negative and so Alanzo moved to Beliefnet.com and elsewhere on the Internet to engage with actual Scientologists, providing them with the information they needed to make informed decisions about their own involvement in Scientology. He spent many years in the early to mid 2000s presenting Scientologists with LRH's real biography & other information that the Church had been hiding from them. Alanzo saw many Scientologists "wake up" around the Internet, after finally getting the information they needed.

In January/February of 2007, Alanzo then moved to the brand new Ex-Scientologists Message Board (ESMB), where Exes were gathering to tell their stories in Scientology. From there, Alanzo witnessed the rise of Anonymous, and was in attendance when Marty Rathbun, in the summer of 2009, kicked the hornet's nest with his announcement that he had started up his new website, and thus the great 2nd Exodus of Independents had begun.

Alanzo found more Scientologists to engage on Marty's website in the Independent movement. Also, Alanzo spent a few years at Geir Isene's blog, where he engaged many very intelligent and free thinking Scientologists and Exes who had retained constructive and positive views of their time in Scientology. This influenced Alanzo greatly by reminding him of things that he had conveniently forgotten about himself and his time in Scientology while becoming an "Anti-Scientology critic".

Then, an unknown critic emerged onto the scene from the Village Voice, Tony Ortega. Alanzo posted often to the Underground Bunker and was one of its most frequently upvoted Anti-Scientology critics there.

That's where Alanzo was exposed to more "never-in" critics of Scientology he'd seen yet on the Internet. And with its mix of the cruelty of Anonymous and the disrespect and disgust for Scientologists, Alanzo began to see tribal behavior that was very reminiscent of the worst of the Sea Org. When Tony Ortega repeatedly went after a woman, a Scientologist whose daughter had committed suicide, he saw the cruelty that all those anti-Scientologsts whipped up in each other. This caused Alanzo to have yet another turning point.

He realized that the deeper he became involved in the Anti-Cult/Anti-Scientology Movement, the more he began to notice very similar tribal behavior to the most fanatical of Scientologists. Alanzo saw a rise of some of the same tribalism from Anti-Scientologists that he was trying to escape by getting himself out of Scientology.

It was like being stuck in a nightmare, and after finally wrenching yourself awake, you're relieved to have escaped that nightmare - only to realize that the nightmare is still going on! ☺

That's when Alanzo began applying the same critical thinking skills to the underlying beliefs of Anti-Scientology that he had earlier applied to Scientology. And that's when his anti-Scientology mindset collapsed on Alanzo, just like his Scientology mindset had collapsed on him so long ago.

And this is where Alanzo is today - applying basic skepticism to both Scientology and anti-Scientology beliefs. He has come to realize that this position of skepticism toward both Scientology & Anti-Scientology is the only sustainable view.

Alanzo's experience of the previous 18 years has led him to conclude that, as long as you continue to think critically and you remain loyal to the truth instead of any person or group, getting out of a 'cult' is not something that you recover from, it is something that you are strengthened by.

Alanzo's purpose is to provide the information necessary for people to make informed decisions about Scientology & Anti-Scientology.

Contribute to AlanzosBlog

There are many ways to contribute. If you think that these ideas need to be made part of the conversation on Scientology, then comment here, follow me on Twitter, link to AlanzosBlog on Facebook and Reddit, and get these ideas out there so that the stereotyping of minority religions like Scientology is at least is questioned by someone on the Internet!

Or start a blog yourself - I'll help you get one started.

Or, you can support this blog monetarily and help me do bigger and better things. By donating you agree to keep AlanzosBlog completely non-partisan, independent and free to provide the information necessary to make informed decisions on Scientology and Anti-Scientology.